Provisioning technology is technology that allows information technology (IT) resources such as servers and network devices to be used effectively and efficiently. It is also possible automatically to build the environment using provisioning technology, for example, installing/uninstalling the operating system (OS), installing/uninstalling middleware, performing environmental configuration, etc.
Reducing the provisioning time is typically done by analyzing user request trends, forming groups of commonly requested configurations in advance, and allocating resources to pools. At present, the user's requested service commencement time equals the provisioning commencement time. There are no functions to determine or predict the time taken to install and configure the requested configurations. It has not been possible to estimate the time taken for manual recovery in the case of provisioning failure. When installing from scratch, provisioning takes time. There is therefore a need for determining and predicting the provisioning preparation commencement time.
In order to actually apply provisioning to allow several users to share common IT resources, appropriate scheduling and an understanding of the state of resource use is necessary. Further, it is essential to give end users an accurate time for when the services will begin, for example, when installing and configuring will be completed, etc., and guarantee a minimum service provision. When sharing and reusing resources, unless one has accurate knowledge of the service occupancy time and idle time of the resources, the amount of time that is wasted without directly contributing to the service increases. If there are a large number of machines to be managed, this has an effect on business. Furthermore, if it happens that automatic provisioning fails, it may be necessary to build the environment manually, and there must be a plan with the necessary leeway to sufficiently account for this scenario. There is a need to solve these problems.